So if you're like me you probably have at least a few bad habits you would like to break.
But it's tough cause no matter how hard I try, I seem to slip back into the same old
routines again and again.
In the last decade we've learned a lot about how habits work.
That's Charles Duhigg, author of the book, "The Power of Habit."
In particular we've learned the neurological structure of a habit.
He says we tend to think of a habits as a single thing, but actually, each habit has
three components. There's a cue which is a trigger for a behavior to start, and then
there is a routine which is the behavior itself, and then finally a reward, which is how our
brain learns to encode that automatic behavior for the future.
And one of the big differences is that for years when people thought about habits, they
focused in on the routine, on the behavior. But what we now know is that it's these queues
and these rewards that really shape how habits occur and how to change them.
And Charles says whether we like it or not, this kind of habit formation is endemic to
our brain.
And what it will do is our brain will latch on to a queue that it associates with a behavior
and a particular reward. And over time, that queue and that reward become more and more
and more sort of intertwined. The inner part of your brain, the basal ganglia will relate
them together. And the behavior that is associated with that, that will just sort of happen automatically.
But Charles says the good news is we can also use this knowledge to our advantage.
There was a big study that was done about how to create exercise habits. And so what
they did is they told a group of people, "Okay, first of all choose an obvious queue: always
go running at the same time every day or put your workout clothes next to your bed so that
you see them first thing when you wake up." And then they said, "Go for a run or go workout
and when you get back from exercising, give yourself a small piece of chocolate."
Now this is kind of counter intuitive, right? Because people who are exercising are trying
to lose weight, not eat more chocolate. And yet what the researchers knew is that their
brain needed that reward. The basal ganglia needed some reward. But what they found was
that people who ate a small piece of chocolate after coming home from a run or a workout,
they were much more likely to start exercising habitually.
So according to Charles, whether you want to break a habit, or start a new habit, the
key is to divide the habit into its component parts: queue, routine and reward, and design
it for the result that you want.
Hey guys, my name is Kirsten from Epipheo and we would love to hear from you about what
you think a great reward is for you to make or break a habit. So, leave us a comment down
below in the comment section and let us know. We come out with a video every week that we
hope will change your life. And next week we are talking about how you can say, "No,"
to pretty much anything. So hit subscribe and we will see you next week!